Introduction: The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of occurrence of Chlamydia trachomatis (C.t.) DNA in the prostate material in the group of individuals with the chronic prostatitis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To develop a descriptive system for a glaucoma-specific preference-based health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instrument: the Health Utility for Glaucoma (HUG-5).
Methods: The descriptive system was developed in 2 stages: item identification and item selection. A systematic literature review of HRQoL assessment of glaucoma was conducted using a comprehensive search strategy.
Glaucoma is a well-known complication after corneal transplantation surgery. Traditional corneal transplantation surgery, specifically penetrating keratoplasty, has been slowly replaced by the advent of new corneal transplantation procedures: primarily lamellar keratoplasties. There has also been an emergence of keratoprosthesis implants for eyes that are high risk of failure with penetrating keratoplasty.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: A primary objective of healthcare services is to improve patients' health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Glaucoma, which affects a substantial proportion of the world population, has a significant detrimental impact on HRQoL. Although there are a number of glaucoma-specific questionnaires to measure HRQoL, none is preference-based which prevent them from being used in health economic evaluation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe majority of solid cancers present with qualitative and quantitative aberrations of adhesion proteins, including E-cadherin and β-catenin, and connexin (Cx) gap junction proteins, which is consistent with alterations in the expression and location of such proteins in neoplastic cells. Since there are no data on the correlation between adhesion proteins and Cxs in human colorectal cancer (CRC), the aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression and correlation between these proteins. Tissue specimens were obtained from 151 cases of surgically removed colorectal adenocarcinomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypoxia triggers production of several cytoprotective proteins. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1α) is a powerful stimulator of transcription of many genes, including erythropoietin (EPO) in hypoxia-affected cells. Recent data have also implicated signaling by EPO receptor (EPOR) as a new factor influencing tumor progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne of the mechanisms for direct cell to cell signaling is mediated by gap junctions. These junctions are formed by connexins, transmembrane proteins. Gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) plays a critical role in tissue development, differentiation of cells, and regulation of tissue homeostasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEstrogen receptor (ER) is a major feature of endometrioid adenocarcinoma. It has a significant impact on constitution of estrogen-responsiveness of this endometrial malignancy, in which STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription) becomes hyperactivated. The aim of our study was to detect immunohistochemically and compare expressions of STAT3 with apoptosis regulators (Bak and Bcl-xL) in regard to different pathological features and variably pronounced ER-α immunoprofile in 78 endometrioid adenocarcinomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aims: GLUT1 and EPO belong to so called hypoxia-associated markers, which exert cytoprotective actions in the hypoxia suffering cells. In oxygen deficiency Bcl-xL can also be upregulated.
Methodology: Therefore, we detected with immunohistochemistry and compared EPO with expressions of GLUT-1 and antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL in 125 colorectal cancers.
This study aimed to assess the pre-operative chemotherapy impact on the relationship between estrogen receptor (ER) expression and markers of proliferation and apoptosis in primary and metastatic breast cancer. Immunohistochemical examinations were conducted on surgically removed ductal invasive breast cancers and their lymph node metastases in 135 patients. A total of 64 patients from this group underwent pre-operative chemotherapy and in 71 cases the surgery was performed without primary chemotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPol Merkur Lekarski
September 2010
Unlabelled: Disorders of voice quality are mostly influenced by organic changes in larynx. In the assessment of ultrastructure of vocal fold mucosa the most useful is the technique of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The organic dysphonia is diagnosed by the perceptual, endoscopic (VLS) and stroboscopic (VLSS) assessment of larynx and acoustic assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring carcinogenesis, loss of intracellular cohesion is observed among cancer cells with altered expression of such adhesion molecules as E-cadherin and beta-catenin, and aberrant expression and cellular location of intercellular gap junction proteins-connexins. The aim of this study was to evaluate immunohistochemically the expression and relationship between E-cadherin and beta-catenin, and the connexins Cx26 and Cx43 in 86 endometrioid adenocarcinomas. The aberrant cytoplasmic translocation of the studied proteins was a predominant finding, whereas only a minority of cases showed normal, nuclear beta-catenin labeling or membranous distribution of the remaining molecules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: EPO (erythropoietin) counteracts p53-dependent apoptosis. EPO, which acts via its receptor EPOR, protects cells and inhibits apoptosis in normal cells and some cancer tissues by severe down-regulation of Bak. We aimed to investigate the relationship between p53 and Bak expression and EPO and EPOR in human colorectal carcinomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProgression of numerous neoplasms could involve alterations of gap junction channels composed of connexins (Cxs). Disorders of expression and cellular displacement of Cxs were also found in endometrial cancer. Gap junctional intercellular communication can be regulated by wide array of agents, for instance, growth factors, oncogenes, and steroid hormones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) belong to a group of hypoxia related proteins. IGF-I induces expression of VEGF and decomposes wild type p53 in cancer cell lines. The goal of our study was to evaluate serum IGF-I, VEGF and p53 with respect to overall and disease free survival of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) patients compared with healthy volunteers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlterations of gap junctional intercellular communication appear to play a role in the development and progression of cancer. Gap junction channel is composed of two connexons - hexameric units formed of transmembrane proteins called connexins (Cxs). The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression and localization of Cx26 in 73 cases of endometrial cancers and to estimate the relationships between expression of this protein and selected anatomoclinical features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisturbances in expression of apoptosis-associated proteins take part in the development and progression of many human malignancies. The aim of this study was the assessment of correlations among proteins involved in apoptosis-Bcl-xL, Bax, and p53-as well as relationships of these proteins with selected clinicopathological features in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Consequently, we examined by immunohistochemistry, using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase method, Bcl-xL, Bax, and p53 expression in 56 samples of primary oral squamous cell carcinoma and in 22 matched pairs of primary and metastatic tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndokrynol Diabetol Chor Przemiany Materii Wieku Rozw
October 2006
Background: Apoptosis, one of the forms of programmed cell death, is a physiologic process of cell death that is central to normal development and occurs in response to a variety of physiologic and pathophysiologic stimuli. In the thyroid, abnormal apoptotic activity may be involved in a variety of diseases such as Hashimoto thyroiditis and Graves disease. The aim of this study was to estimate the expression of chosen apoptotic molecules CD95 (Fas) and CD95L (FasL) on the surface of thyroid follicular cells in application of mouse monoclonal antibodies #64 which recognized B antigen regions of thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and infiltrating inflammatory cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeptin restricts intake of calories as a satiety hormone. It probably stimulates neoplastic proliferation in breast cancer, too. Growth of malignant cells could be regulated by various leptin-induced second messengers like STAT3 (signal transducers and activators of transcription 3), AP-1 (transcription activator protein 1), MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) and ERKs (extracellular signal-regulated kinases).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims And Background: Vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin) preserves the tightness of the mature vascular network as a component of endothelial adherens junctions. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) makes VE-cadherin dissociate from complexes with beta-catenin, so that endothelial cells can loosely proliferate and migrate. We searched for relationships between VEGF and VE-cadherin levels in preoperative sera of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gap junctions are intercellular channels composed of connexins, which mediate the direct passage of small molecules between neighbouring cells. They are involved in regulation of cell cycle, cell signalling, and differentiation, and probably invasion and metastasis. The role of connexins in the metastatic process is controversial, because some studies indicate that connexin expression is inversely correlated with metastatic capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiversity of P53 impact on tumor angiogenesis is due to the fact that wild-type P53 decreases expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), but mutant P53 upregulates it. Therefore, we aimed at uncovering relations between preoperative serum levels of VEGF and P53 in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Preoperative blood samples of 125 CRC patients and 16 control healthy volunteers were examined with an ELISA-kit for serum P53 levels and VEGF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn our previous investigation Insulin Receptor Substrate 1 (IRS-1) correlated with proliferation marker Ki-67 in human breast cancer. The aim of the present study was to assess relationships between IRS-1 expression and anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL as well as proapoptotic Bax proteins, assessed by immunohistochemistry, in primary tumors and lymph node metastases of breast cancer. IRS-1 is positively associated with both Bcl-xL and Bax in primary and metastatic tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic inflammation has long been linked to cancers with an infectious etiology. Subclinical intraprostatic inflammation is a frequent finding in prostatic specimens obtained during surgical procedures. Recent studies using biomolecular (amplification) methods showed that the incidence of cryptic bacterial infections of prostate gland may be underestimated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApoptosis is a process associated with development and progression of breast cancer. The association between connexins and programmed cell death has only been demonstrated in a few studies. The aim of the present study was the evaluation of Cx26 and Cx43 expression in breast cancer in correlation with Bcl-2 and Bak proteins as well as with selected clinicopathological features.
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